We describe the interdisciplinary management of a 59-year old man with ischaemic cardiomyopathy on a HeartMate II left ventricular assist device (LVAD) and temporary right extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) as a bridge-to-heart transplantation. He suffered refractory hypoxaemia due to massive right-to-left shunting by a patent foramen ovale (PFO), diagnosed after weaning off of temporar...

BACKGROUND Transcatheter closure of secundum atrial septal defects (ASD) using the Amplatzer septal occluder is generally safe and effective, but erosion into the pericardial space or aorta has been described. Although the absolute risk of this complication is low, there has been no assessment of relative risk factors. METHODS AND RESULTS All erosions reported to St. Jude Medical after ASD cl...

OBJECTIVE This paper intends to report our experiences by using an operation of off-pump occlusion of trans-thoracic minimal invasive surgery (OPOTTMIS) on the treatment of consecutive 210 patients with simple congenital heart diseases (CHD) including atrial septal defect (ASD), ventricular septal defect (VSD) and patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). METHODS The retrospective clinical data of OPOT...

Percutaneous intervention is preferred over reoperation for the treatment of iatrogenic membranous ventricular septal defects (VSDs). During the standard percutaneous procedure, an arterio-venous loop is used for occluder deployment, entailing the risk of device impingement on the prosthetic aortic valve, which may cause serious complications or even death. In this report, we describe a novel n...

OBJECTIVES This study assessed the ability of live/real time three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography (3DTEE) in measuring (1) atrial septal defect (ASD) maximum dimension, area, and adjacent rim size, (2) ASD occluder left and right atrial disk size, (3) length of contact between the left atrial (LA) disk and the aorta, and in (4) assessing device related complications such as residu...

INTRODUCTION Acquired ventricular septal defect (VSD) is uncommon, but serious mechanical complication of acute myocardial infarction with poor outcome and high mortality rate in surgically or medically treated patients. CASE REPORT We report a 58-year-old male patient admitted to our hospital six days following acute inferior myocardial infarction complicated by ventricular septal rupture wi...

PURPOSE For the successful completion of transcatheter closure of atrial septal defects with the Amplatzer septal occluder, shape of the defects should be considered prior to selecting the device. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the results of a transcatheter closure of oval shaped atrial septal defect. MATERIALS AND METHODS From November 2009 until November 2011, cardiac computed to...

An asymptomatic 50-year-old Caucasian woman was referred to our echocardiography laboratory to monitor a Biostar septal occluder device inserted six months before in order to close a patent foramen ovale. On transthoracic echocardiography no residual shunt was observed but the device was not identifiable (Figure 1A); after injection of agitated saline solution in a vein of the right arm and the...

Percutaneous transcatheter atrial septal defect (ASD) closure is a widely used technique that has replaced open-heart surgical closure in many centers. The most common implant is the Amplatzer septal occluder which seems to be a highly effective and safe device. However, there are reports of complications associated with its implantation. We report a 9-year-old boy who presented with complete a...